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0 pointsacqq11y ago0 comments

Thanks. That still makes some 10 times less weight for solar panels. Still, once US makes a mission, I can imagine they would consider using that, launching much heavier probe etc. This was an European mission, not having access to the US resources.

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guscost11y ago· 2 in thread

Wow, I just looked into it and it turns out the ESA actually hasn't used RTGs before, but planned to use one with this very mission[0:p78]. The only ESA mission I can find which used an RTG is the Cassini-Huygens probe[1], a collaboration with NASA.

[0] http://www.ianus.tu-darmstadt.de/media/ianus/pdfs/arbeitspap...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini–Huygens

acqqOP11y ago

Where do you see that ESA actually planned to use a RTG for Rosetta mission?

On the p78 is only "The consortium formed of leading institutes of Europe includes the scientific organisations of Germany, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Great Britain and Austria, which have not the technological capacity to manufacture RTGs. It was therefore decided to develop new high-efficiency solar cell for this deep space mission."

guscost11y ago

Here's the passage as it appears on page 78 of the IANUS paper[0]:

"Up to now there exists a number of projects developed by ESA which plan to use radionuclide power or heat sources. One of the most far progressed is the 'Rosetta' project."

[Update: When this paper was written, it looks like they might have been only planning to use an RHU to heat the lander:

"'RoLand' includes not only the solar power generator but also RHU on plutonium-238 of the RHU 'Angel' type. By the opinion of the project experts, the RHU use is the most desirable, sensible and reliable means for achieving the main goal of the mission."]

[0] Energy supply for deep space missions: Risks of nuclear power in space and prospects for solar alternatives. From http://www.ianus.tu-darmstadt.de/media/ianus/pdfs/arbeitspap...

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